Might as Well

Returning to the real world after reading through all the notification screens, he immediately set off to the kitchen to hunt himself some lunch. However, upon opening his fridge – which would have looked incredibly futuristic in his previous life – he sadly had to realize that none of his favorite foods were present.

Thus, with a great sigh, he closed the fridge door and went to his bedroom to get some proper clothes. It seemed he would have to go out and get some fitting celebratory meal to celebrate his success in the game.

Sam opened his door and was surprised to see his neighbor also leaving her apartment.

“Hey!” he greeted her with a small wave. “Where to?” he asked as they casually fell into step next to each other as they headed for the lift.

“I was hungry,” came the reply from the redhead.

“Hey, me too! Want to go together?” he asked.

The young woman gave him a considering look, then shrugged. “Why not? What do you want to eat?”

Sam thought about it a little. “Something with a lot of meat. You?”

She considered for a moment, then nodded. “I know a good place for that.”

Thus, they headed out, next to each other in companionable silence as they tried to ignore the hunger gnawing at their stomachs.

They returned to the many-storied building content and full and maybe suffering a little from the beginnings of a food coma.

The restaurant his lovely neighbor recommended and then escorted him to was a small family-operated restaurant serving meat dishes from all over the world, in quantities big enough that if Lucky were real, the loyal wolf would have been satisfied.

Entering the building, they were heading toward the lift when Sam heard the receptionist call out to him. Thus, he diverted his way toward the dour man sitting behind the raised desk.

“Yes?” he asked as his neighbor curiously looked on.

The man looked at him, then at some of his screen, probably identifying him. The building boasted robust security, which included some high-level technology to make sure only those who were authorized entered the premises. Or no suspicious packages arrived to harm the residents.

Exactly the reason why he chose this building. Based on his inherited memories, it was not uncommon to use the postal service to harm, humiliate, or just simply annoy other players. Plus, with the knowledge from his own dimension about doxing and the lives of streamers and high-level players, Sam made sure to set up as many defenses against any possible vector of attack as possible.

The man behind the desk let out a positive-sounding grunt, which Sam took as if his identity had been confirmed.

“You got a package,” came the gruff statement as the man turned around and headed for the room behind him.

“Huh… From whom?” he asked idly.

The man entered the backroom and Sam could hear him root around as he called back.

“I think it was…. Aha! Found it!” he exclaimed. “Let’s see…it says it is from some company called Future Unknown,” came the explanation from the man as he returned.

Based on his voice, Sam was pretty sure the man had no idea about the company. However, interestingly, the young woman next to him let out a surprised squeak.

He cast a questioning look at her, but instead of asking about it, he refocused on the receptionist.

The man either ignored the byplay or simply didn’t care, and tossed a tablet-like device on the counter.

“Sign here,” came the instruction, accompanied by a grunt.

Sam did so and finally took possession of the deceptively weighty box. The moment he gave back the signing device, the man grunted something that sounded like thank you and returned to watching his monitors.

He just shrugged, took his box and, with his companion, resumed his journey to the lift.

His companion lasted until the lift doors closed behind them. She leaned over a little, her eyes on the package.

“Why did that company send you a package?” she asked with an amazed whisper.

Sam just chuckled. “Won a competition and this is probably the reward. Though I didn’t expect it would arrive this fast…”

‘Maybe they expected that I would win?’ he mused. ‘Naaaah…’

“Wooow,” she whispered in an awed voice. “So, you’re some kind of big player?”

“Nah, I just got lucky…” he replied with a chuckle.

She glanced at him suspiciously, but in the end, she accepted the answer.

“Can I ask what you won?” she asked curiously.

Sam nodded. “Sure…”

Then he took out his keys and used one of them to open the box and swiftly opened it.

BAAMMM

He looked back at his neighbor as she looked around confusedly – after jumping high in the air at the noise – as a veritable cloud of glitter and anatomically shaped shiny paper fell around them as the lift moved without interruption.

They stayed silent as the cloud of shiny material slowly settled down on their shoulders and hair, coating them as if they had just spent several days in a strip club.

The lift doors opened and both of them left it silently, leaving behind glittering footprints as they headed for their homes.

Stopping in front of their doors Sam raised his hand to say something but his neighbor just glared at the box and stomped into her apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Then instantly it opened again, and she called out.

“Thanks for the meal!”

And the door was slammed shut again.

‘Fair enough…’ he chuckled to himself as he entered his home. “Now how to clean this shit up?” he grumbled out loud as he watched the glitter without any wind movement starting to cover his entrance hall.

‘My revenge is going to be legendary!’ he vowed to himself, then put the package down carefully, not wanting to trigger any other hidden surprises, then divested himself of all the clothing and took the shortest route to his shower.

Sam only returned to the game after he confirmed he couldn’t see any more glitter in his hair or on his body. He knew he couldn’t get rid of it fully, but he was satisfied so far.

He appeared in one of the rooms of the abbey that the priestesses generously lent to him when he asked after finishing his ascension.

Looking out the small window, he saw Lucky still running around, chasing some birds while several priestesses cheered the wolf on.

“Go get ‘em, tiger!”

“That’s a wolf, sister!”

“With the soul of a tiger!”

Chuckling at the byplay, he didn’t leave the room, instead, he began to do something he had planned and prepared for a long time. Getting the mana natures he got was basically step one of his plan, and now that he could feel the mana core pulsing and bubbling in his body, continuously cycling his mana, he could finally start with step two.

Centering himself, he summoned neutral mana, then turned it into shadow mana before starting to condense it. The wispy-looking mana slowly and surely coalesced into a solid-looking mass.

Next, he took that mana and began molding it over his own armor. It took a while but eventually, the game system realized what he was doing and the process became a little easier now that the game knew what he was trying to do.

He carefully covered all aspects of his body with the shadow-mana giving himself a layer of armor, then with a simple hooking movement he attached the entire spell matrix to his mana core.

A smile stretched across his face as the construct was anchored to his mana core without any trouble. He then began to channel more and more mana into it, strengthening it, shaping it, and adding detail to it while walking around the room to make sure he didn’t inhibit his own movement with it.

Took him around an hour to be satisfied with the first version of his true magical armor. Then, with a grin, he used his illusionary ability to add a simple illusion to the armor.

By the time he left the room, he looked exactly as he entered. Covered by his usual armor and clothing.

“Are you ready to depart, honored guest?” the abbess asked as several priestesses in the background were hugging Lucky and crying rivers of tears while the silly wolf wagged his tail.

Sam bowed his head. “Yes, abbess. I have rested after my adventure and am ready to continue my journey,” he responded vaguely.

They were peaceful and friendly, but they very specifically didn’t take vows of secrecy.

The older woman gave him a knowing look but based on the smile on her face she didn’t mind.

“As you wish. We shall pray for your success, great hero!” she declared warmly. “We hope you’ll help others just like you’ve helped us!”

Sam bowed again.

“I shall endeavor to do that, abbess.”

“Good. Then I shall hold you no longer. Go and be blessed by Anor’s kindness!” she replied as she held out a hand and Sam was suddenly being blessed. Light shone around him and the grass stalks around his feet began to dance as they tried to reach the sky, growing under the effect of the blessing of a nature god.

[You received the Blessing of Anor’s Kindness! (Temporary)]

[You gain a friendly aura that decreases monster aggro.]

[Duration: 2:59:48]

Perfect for the journey back to civilization.

Nodding in thanks, he finally said goodbye to the abbey and its bountiful gardens, the drug-peddling priestesses, and headed once again for the ward line.

Lucky caught up with him there, holding another bone in his mouth, his fur tousled and tail wagging in excitement.

“Had fun, eh?” he asked with a chuckle.

The wolf let out a muffled bark and jumped into his shadow, off to gnaw on his bone.

Ironwood looked the same as he left it.

There was maybe some more excitement and maybe a little more people than usual, but that was mostly because the popularity of the game has continued to grow. It started with the gamers, then the casuals, and now the people who weren’t really into video games were also trying out the game to see what the others were talking about.

He simply navigated through the throng of people, watching out for opportunistic pickpockets, confused grandmas, mischievous fey, and…

SLINK

…assassins.

The moment he sensed the spike of mana, he threw up a wall of wind, but the assassin’s weapon, a short sword covered by black that sucked in all the air around it, negated Sam’s shield, going straight at his heart.

“Haha! The money is mine!” the would-be-assassin exclaimed amid the screams of the crowd as they began to flee. “I know your tricks! Nothing shall stop me!”

Sam simply turned to the side, letting the guy pass by him, the sword only nicking his recently added shadow shield.

The guy had a second to be surprised.

“Huh?”

Before Sam simply cut him down, turning his body into pixels.

The entire exchange was maybe five seconds, but the street where it happened was almost completely empty.

He looked at the place where the assassin had vanished and chuckled.

‘Oh no…they observed me religiously using one element and prepared for it. What a shame…’

Then he cast his sense out while sending off a message to Tim. As he ascertained the presence of more mana signatures that looked ready to strike, he received back an affirmative from his security chief.

Sam looked up at the nearby building, ignoring how the entire area was silent as a grave and smiled.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again, huh?”

He felt the mana signature shift and began to gather his mana. He needed to delay things until Tim could arrive and do a little investigation.

Might as well try talking. Sometimes it worked.

“Well?” he called out. “Anybody else? I’m here and willing to take it!”

Predictably, nobody answered his provocation.

Instead, the mana observing him surged, and within a blink he was staring directly at a storm of fire, sucking up all the available air, growing stronger and stronger as it headed to consume him.

‘Oh boy, this is not going to be a fair fight…’